Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!ria!uwovax.uwo.ca!baer
From: baer@uwovax.uwo.ca
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: VGA into XT?
Message-ID: <1991Jan20.103319.8338@uwovax.uwo.ca>
Date: 20 Jan 91 15:33:19 GMT
References: <1991Jan20.110601.3963@csc.anu.edu.au>
Lines: 36

In article <1991Jan20.110601.3963@csc.anu.edu.au>, imj502@csc.anu.edu.au writes:
> G'Day,
>    Would some kind soul(s) out there be kind enough to tell me if there are
> any difficulties in puttung a VGA card into an old XT?  Are there any
> things that I should specify when buying the card, other than it is for
> an XT.
>  			Thanks
> 			Ian
I plopped a VGA card without any difficulty into an old Zenith Z-158 XT
a year ago.  I had to set the system-board DIP switch from "mono" to 
"colour" (sorry: "color" for American readers).  Although "colour" meant
little more than CGA (perhaps less) when the machine was originally 
manufactured, my cheap VGA card had no trouble providing full service
in all VGA modes.  

Many VGA cards today are 16-bit cards, and of course the slots on XT's
are only 8-bit.  So getting a slightly cheaper 8-bit card might make 
sense.  Still, many 16-bit cards can work in 8-bit mode, so if you 
are planning an upgrade in the future (in which you'd retrieve the
card, although perhaps little else, from your XT in constructing a
newer machine), you might want to think about this.  If you put a 
16-bit card in an 8-bit slot, the last set of contacts (8-bit cards
have one set, 16-bit cards have two) "hangs over" empty space in
your machine.  On a few 8-bit machine with "tight" designs, this 
might not be possible.   Suffice it to say that I had no problem
putting a 16-bit VGA card into the 8-bit slot of my XT.  Check 
first though: the VGA card's manual should discuss 8-bit operation
(e.g., "auto-sensing" on a card like ATI's, or some DIP-switch arrangement).
Again, if you never intend to pull the card out of your XT, go with an 
8-bit card; it'll be marginally cheaper.



Douglas Baer, 
University of Western Ontario, London, Canada N6A 5C2
Internet: BAER@UWO.CA    Bitnet: BAER@UWOVAX